Night at the Museum

And that ends this virtual tour of the museum I call home :)

 

Belated happy birthday, Rita!

Ever since I can remember, my Tita Ofelia has been an antique collector.  She and my mom would buy jars, plates, instruments, furniture, even religious images (and not limited to Catholic religious images!) from anyone who was willing to part with their pieces.  I remember growing up in a house full of these old pieces, and having to be careful when biking or skating inside our house and at Tita Ofelia's house, lest I break something. 

 

I also remember avoiding those areas where the people figures were displayed -- it didn't matter if they were saints, or gods; 

they scared me!

 

A few weeks ago, I moved back to my hometown, Tuguegarao, and into my Tita Ofelia's house, which I now call my home whenever I hold clinic over there.  The continuous rains this past week has kept me from going out except to go to my clinic, and so a few nights ago I took a walk around the house with my camera.

 

 

I could see, as I took these pictures, that now I appreciated the antiques and the concept of "collecting" -- something I didn't quite grasp as a child.  So many pieces with a history that I will never know about... I wished they had labels on them like they would have in a museum!  I wished someone would be my tour guide and tell me where this piece came from, what purpose it served for its previous owners, and so on...

 

It was also nice to realize that I was no longer afraid of the people figurines :) 

 

This virtual tour is for Rita, whose birthday I missed on Tabblo (You must forgive me, for there was no electricity in Tuguegarao then).  When you visit the Philippines I shall play the birthday song for you on the baby grand, and then give you a FOR REAL tour of our little museum.  We can skip the pieces in this tabblo and look at the other hundred :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Metal (Brass?) Section

 

 

 

 

 

The pieces that used to give me nightmares. 

I used to imagine they'd come alive at night. They don't scare me (so much) anymore :)

 

 

 

 

 

The food storage (?) section.

 

 

 

 

 

Curious candelabras 

They came in handy two weeks ago, after the typhoon left us with no electricity for a week.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pieces from a lady's dresser (?) 

 

 

 

 

 

More storage items. 

(That is the purpose they serve, these days.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Items that need no labels.

 

 

 

 

 

Closest to my heart 

This song book called "1001 Songs" is just a little over two decades old. They still sell the same song book these days, and four other volumes that followed it.

 

I took a photo of this song book because seeing it brought back warm memories of learning to play the guitar, following chords from this book, and singing with my siblings as Tita Ofelia played the chords from the same book. 

 

Good times :)

Even in their sorry state, I immediately recognized these piano keys and was overcome by some strong emotions as I looked at them.  They were the same keys on which my dad and the rest of his siblings learned to play the piano.